Infestation
by Purloined Letter
Summary: [AU-Lumos 'Verse] Letters and other varied kinds of correspondence from the time of the Great Illness, from all sorts of perspectives. Chapter 2: Destroy After Reading. 'A' receives a heavily redacted memo.
1. Letter 1: Boots on the Ground

Hope everyone enjoys! I was debating incorporating this series into the main 'fics over time instead, but thought it'd be easier to have as its own side 'fic. :)

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**Letter One: Boots on the Ground**

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_Where to even begin? _

_Oh Mew, Agatha, it's more horrific than I could ever possibly hope to convey. _

_Part of me regrets deciding to answer the League's call, but I knew I could never live with myself if I didn't at least make an attempt to help, to go to the front lines and truly see this outbreak for myself and try to assist how I can._

_I've been here a week, and finally writing to you now that I've finally arrived after five hard days of travel at what's believed to be the epicenter of the outbreak and what should serve as our base of operations for the duration of our work. I'm currently camping on the far western shore of Kalos, just outside of a tiny little hamlet called Geosenge Town along with some League-provided translators and several of my fellow professors and researchers from the various region-states. I'm still not sure I can even begin to find the right words for what I've been experiencing and seeing. _

_The sheer scale and devastation sweeping through Kalos is far, far worse than the new Global League is letting on. __The instant I landed in Lumiose City and saw and felt the tension, the panic and the desperate people flooding the Pokémon Centers to the bursting point, I was so glad I'd made the choice to leave my friends in your care for this trip. There are even reports that some of the more remote Centers have actually been looted, but unfortunately the police here are far, far too busy trying to keep order in the major cities to be able to worry about the outlying areas. The only positive at all is that, due to the outbreak, crime hasn't increased much, because most are too fearful to exit the cities right now._

_Dead and dying Pokémon absolutely litter the landscape, to the point that some side roads are even impassible at times without having to clear dead Pokémon out of the way. My personal guide and interpreter, Jean, has even told me that the Kalosians, at this point, consider it the kindest thing to end a wild Pokémon's suffering if you encounter one that's somehow still alive- and to my horror, we've had to do exactly that a few times so far. __I couldn't eat anything the first night of our travels because of what I was witnessing and doing, and I threw up my breakfast the next day when we had to move a large group of dead Litleo and Pyroar to continue our journey._

_They've apparently stopped trying to keep up with cleaning up the bodies at this point. I still can't believe I'm even writing that sentence on paper, but it's the reality. This is not some mild illness, and it's clearly both insanely virulent and incredibly contagious. I worry greatly that it may actually either be airborne or become airborne as well, because from what the Kalosians tell us the disease has been reported across 85% of Kalos at this point. Bear in mind that the first reports of deaths were just over three months ago._

_It's so, so very quiet out here away from the city, aside from the occasional human noises and conversation here in the camp. Nature, itself, seems dead._

_We have an Alolan here among us, a researcher named Kahiau. He's a renegade among his people for choosing to actively help us due to Alola's decrees, and he's joined us here in Kalos at the cost of him being able to return to his home for at least ten years. I heard him praying in Alonesian one night and asked what he was praying for. He said the Alolans have a word for this kind of horrible misfortune or evil- poino, and I hope I've spelled it correctly- and he was praying to his island's guardian deities to help give him the knowledge and strength to cleanse the poino from Kalos._

_You know I'm not much of one for prayer, but I found myself taking to my knees and offering one up to Mew after Kahiau had finished, trying to be respectful and not interrupt him, and suddenly it was as if a floodgate had opened. After I finished my prayer a Sinnohite professor came out of her tent and joined us wearing a silver ornamental shawl draped over her shoulders and performed what seemed to be some kind of offering ritual over the campfire involving burning a small pouch of herbs and a pinch of food along with an incantation that was almost a plea, and after she was done an Almian researcher stood and sang a beautiful chant up to the sky in her own tongue. We all gave each other the time to reach out in our own ways to our own deities, and learned much of each other's culture that night._

_This is where we're at with this horrific thing, Agatha. Men and women of science and logic, of learning, able to do little more right now than pray to our assorted deities and hope and wish for the best._

_We need all the help we can get, I suspect._

_I know the last we spoke before I left for Kalos that you were going to discuss possibly temporarily stopping League activities with the rest of the Elite Four, though I suspect by the time this letter reaches you the Global League may halt all training activities anyhow, until we can do further research and determine just how dangerous "Geosenge Syndrome" is. I dearly hope we can get ahead of this horror before it jumps regions, because I highly suspect that it absolutely can, and will, continue to spread._

_Regards,_

_Samuel_


	2. Memo 1: Destroy After Reading

Hope everyone continues to enjoy!

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**Memo One: Destroy After Reading**

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_A,_

_Sorry, this really heavily redacted version was the best I could manage to get my hands on without blowing our cover, but this is the one. They're REALLY paranoid these days._

_Go get 'em, and be careful._

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**EYES ONLY. ****DESTROY AFTER READING**

Chairman Funai,

As you know, an apparent ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ based out of ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ sent the League headquarters a message ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ ago indicating that they had ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ '▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓' that they were going to ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ unless we acceded to their demands and ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓.

We were then ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ to be held in Geosenge Town in Kalos. They agreed ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ until we had the chance to ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓.

We ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ to the requested meeting ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓. All of the region-states attended as well ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓, with the exception of Alola. The group ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ and one of them proceeded to ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ after he and ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ decided to try and stop them. Several injuries followed, and ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ in the chaos that followed.

▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ after the botched meeting was when the first reports of what is now being called 'Geosenge Syndrome' emerged in Kalos. We are unsure ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓, but initial reports from the field indicate that ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓. For now, we recommend ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ and see if this 'Geosenge Syndrome' shows up outside of Kalos. We have had ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓, though we're uncertain why.

Out of an abundance of caution, we do recommend ceasing all League activities for the time being until ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓. It's unfortunate, but between Geosenge Syndrome and ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ the Champion's Cup should probably be cancelled for now as well until ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓.


End file.
